When Nobody's There
by Fractured Reflections
Summary: Roxas is a normal guy, until he dies in a fiery explosion, in a hospital bed, shortly after being shot. Tragic right? But you know it's not all bad, he comes back as a guardian spirit whose sole purpose is to protect the balance between heaven and hell. From then on he has to deal with school and a second life. Rating for language, adult themes and violence.


**When Nobody's There**

**The Twilight Thorns**

**theBrickWall: So I've decided that along with my other fan-fiction I wanted to try something, well different. This kind of plunges into things, but the backstory will be explained as it goes on. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney. Any character from any of those games belongs to Square Enix. And Disney stuff belongs to Disney, obviously. **

**Also I don't own the songs by Fall Out Boy or Hoobastank. **

Have you ever felt like you were going through hell? If so you don't know the half of it. I've died, I've burned, granted it was a fiery explosion that killed me, and I've lived on, as a spirit. Now, I know what you're probably thinking, that I'm an evil spirit bent on destroying the world and dragging all of you to the depths of hell, or maybe I'm an angel from heaven. Well, that's not the case. There are demons out there and angels too, but I'm a different kind of spirit, so I would kindly ask that you not accuse me of such things.

I am a guardian spirit, not a guardian angel. They protect special individuals, whereas we protect everyone. It is our job to keep the balance in life, not too much light or too much darkness. In other words, we are the peacekeepers, the ones that you never see, the ones who you feel watching when no one's there. We keep you safe and you never know it.

Now that I've cleared that up, I suppose you're probably wondering how I got myself into this mess. It all started when I met my best friend, Axel, um, Axel… Come to think of it he never did tell me his last name…

"Roxas, you're going to show Axel around for a while, and help him get used to our school. Do this and I will be willing to… Overlook the vandalism issue, understood?" asked the pink haired man, not gay just oddly fashionable and obsessed with pink, that is our principal. Marluxia wasn't the nicest person in the world, but if you didn't break rules, or stand out you were left alone. Sadly, it would seem that I was always doing both.

"Yes sir." I acknowledged. I stood at attention next to the door waiting to be dismissed, the one presumably called Axel stood next to me. He smirked at me when Marluxia looked away. I smiled too. He had red spikey hair that stood about four inches in every direction. He also had green eyes, and was wearing the Twilight Academy uniform. The uniform consisted of maroon slacks, a white dress shirt, a black vest, embossed with the schools coat of arms, and a maroon tie. Well, for the guys at least.

"Good, you are both dismissed, off to eighth period with you." he said waving her hand toward the door. It opened with a slow creak as another student, a small, blond girl named Naminé, prepared for her meeting. "Next." the man groaned as I walked past Naminé. She wore the girl's uniform, a black skirt, ending just above the knees, a white blouse, and a maroon sweater-vest that was also embossed with the insignia.

"Good luck, Naminé." I gave her a weak smile. I don't know why I bothered anymore because she never talks to me, in fact I don't think she ever noticed me since that time on the station clock tower. "Axel, what's your last class?" I asked when the door closed.

He walked around me and turned to look at me directly while walking backwards. "I'm off to Chemistry room 1023, with Mr. Vexen. You like her don't you?" he changed the subject quickly as he turned up some stairs, still backwards.

"How'd you do that? And no I don't." I muttered as I followed him, he seemed to know where he was going. It was a bit disconcerting, but I brushed it off, he must have memorized the map.

"Well I've gotten used to sensing my surroundings, and if you don't like her why were you so disappointed when she ignored you?" he smirked right before he tripped up the stairs backwards. I smiled, helped him up and then rolled my eyes. "I did that on purpose, got it?" he muttered.

"Yeah whatever, we used to be like best friends so it bothers me that she's the only girl in the school who doesn't acknowledge my existence." I muttered after giving his question a thought. "I do mean the _only_ girl." I added for emphasis.

"So… You like her." he concluded as we reached room 1023. "Anyway, here we are, see you la… Why are you going in?" he asked confused as I pushed past him. I nodded at Mr. Vexen our teacher as I went to take my seat next to another blond guy and a brunette.

"Hey, Hayner, Olette, this is Axel, he's new. Axel these are my good friends Hayner, and his girlfriend Olette." I introduced, or so I thought. Olette jumped up and hugged Axel like an old friend and Hayner gave him a man hug seconds later.

"Long time, no see man. How's it been Axel?" Hayner said excitedly. We all dropped into our seats as soon as we heard the sound of Vexen clearing his throat. He smiled and his eyebrow twitched upwards.

"Now that I have your attention, please refrain from heart-touching reunions until after class, Axel. We will begin today with a simple liquid nitrogen lab." Mr. Vexen smiled. He loved liquid nitrogen for some reason, and almost every Friday he used it to do something. Today it was ice cream, he had purchased sea-salt ice cream mix and had it poured into a mold. Then he put sticks in each one and then took the entire thing with a pair of tongs and dipped it into the vat of liquid nitrogen.

Mere seconds later everyone was eating ice cream as it turns out it was Axel's favorite flavor. "So you like this ice cream a lot huh?" he asked after finishing his second, I was done with three. "I agree, it's the best kind and apparently she thinks so too…" he added pointing across the room.

Naminé had come back and also had three empty sticks in her hand. She was laughing with a group of girls about something, then for what seemed like a split second she looked at me. "Earth to Roxas!" Hayner said as the bell rang. He was waving his hand in front of my face.

"Class over already…" I mumbled grabbing my things and leaving with Axel, Hayner, and Olette in tow. "How long was I staring?" I asked full out. No use denying it, I was staring and no one was going to let me say different.

"About twenty minutes, she started staring back after about three, and then her friends called her back to reality. You guys have been so weird this year…" Hayner laughed as he rested one of his arms on Olette's shoulder. "Anyway who's up for game night? Oh hey um, Axel what's your dorm number?" he added.

Axel pulled out a slip of paper, presumably his schedule, from his uniform jacket and read, "Uh… 4B. Co-ed dorm… Um, the secretary, Larxene, said it was the last available room…" He folded the paper up again. We all gawked at him.

"Dude that's our dorm." I said as we walked up to the door, sure enough it was 4B. "Interestingly enough block four is the only block that doesn't have a E building. Nothing to do with us but it seems odd, doesn't it?" I muttered as Hayner unlocked our dorm.

Olette, Hayner and I have shared a dorm since my first day. It wasn't even awkward, Hayner and Olette were making out on the couch when I walked in. I didn't even notice but they were apologizing anyway. I later found out that they were also sharing a room, and then it was a little awkward. It was also why we had an extra room available. "Well, hold on. Aren't there only three rooms… You aren't kept up all night with them doin' the dirty?" Axel suddenly asked. Olette turned scarlet and Hayner tried to think of things to say to deny everything but came up dry.

I smirked and then patted his back, "My room is the one that isn't right next to theirs, have fun Axel." He immediately started protesting but was shut up when I threw one of his bags at him. One of the staff must've tossed it in our front hall earlier. "Put those away, and then get your ass back out here for some video games." I said as I walked over to the fridge to grab some soda. I grabbed three and sat in my chair, not the dorm's chair, MY chair. I then set the other two on the end table between me and Hayner.

"What are we playin' tonight? Ugh… I'll get it…" I groaned as someone knocked on the door. I got up and jogged to the door. Then I opened it and was glad that I had left my soda behind because I would have dropped it. "Na-Naminé? What are you doing here?" I asked shocked.

"Um… Well, the girl's choice dance is coming up…" she muttered, blushing whilst looking anywhere but at me. I noticed she was wearing a new, although similar, white dress that came mid-thigh. "Do you, er… Would you like to go with me?" she nearly shouted at me. I smiled and then doing what I knew I had too, I lifted her chin forcing her to look into my eyes. I wasn't even bothered that she suddenly was asking me out after nearly a year of ignoring me.

"I'd love too. I'm in the band, but we're only playing two songs and then Demyx is taking over as DJ." I replied. My heart lit up when her face radiated with joy. "You want to come in? We were just about to play some… Um… What were we going to play again?" I asked turning to Hayner, as Naminé stepped in. Axel walked in and grinned at me with one of those _I told you so_ looks.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops II." Hayner muttered as he set up the game whilst upside down on the couch. "Hey Naminé, it's been a while." he added, "Hold on there are only four controllers… How are we all going to play?"

Axel laughed, slipped into his shoes and spoke, "Actually I'm off to get some noise canceling headphones so those two don't keep me up all night." Naminé blushed when she heard that.

"Hey you, want something to drink; water, soda, juice?" I asked as she walked over to the living room and sat down, in my chair. Hayner quickly glanced between me and her, and then smirked. I rolled my eyes.

"Water please." Naminé said as Olette handed her a controller. I grabbed a bottle and made my way to the others. I thought about it for a moment and then walked over to the couch next to Olette.

"Look, just because someone took your chair, doesn't mean you can sit on our couch." Hayner smirked again. I rolled my eyes and sat on the floor leaning against my chair after Naminé folded her legs next to her in my oversized armchair. "Alright let's do this." he said as he started the game.

Axel had walked in listening to music around six with a stack of pizzas and we agreed to call it quits, mostly because we were hungry and Hayner kept winning. Axel turned off his music and brought the pizza into the living room. He sat on the couch and handed boxes everywhere. "I got five boxes, three supreme one deluxe and one cheese, didn't know what you two liked so I just got what Hayner, Olette and me like, and a deluxe and cheese." he said to Naminé and me.

"That's alright, I like cheese pizza." Naminé stated as she opened the box. I grabbed the box of deluxe pizza and started eating. I looked at Hayner trying to eat upside down and started laughing when the hot cheese fell on his face. Naminé tried stifling her giggles as Hayner screamed and dumped soda on his face. "Good thing the soda only ended up on the hardwood floor…" Naminé commented as Olette got napkins and an ice pack.

Hayner sighed when the ice was put on his face and Naminé helped clean up the mess, while I helped turn Hayner around on the couch. "And this is why we don't eat upside down, Hayner." I scolded as he sat there whimpering with the ice on his face. "Come on dude, cut the crap. It couldn't possibly be that bad…" I muttered, face-palming as I sat in my chair.

"Excuse me, but I was sitting there, Roxas." Naminé smiled at me as she promptly shoved me over in the oversized arm chair and sat next to me. "Wow, this chair is big…" she observed as we were both sitting comfortably. Hayner lifted the ice to smirk at me and wink.

"Well, yeah, I rather prefer to have both armrests though…" I muttered wrapping one arm around her so that it sat on the other armrest, "Ah… Much better." I smirked when she realized that I had my arm around her. Then she did the unexpected, she leaned against me with pizza in hand.

"Mmmm… I agree. I was cold…" she shivered, pressing herself closer. It was so weird, she hadn't spoken to me in almost a year and suddenly she's cuddling. I pulled away, standing up, and looked at her smirking face. "I knew that I could get you to get out of the chair." she giggled. _Damn… That's what she was up to… _

"You mean MY chair?" I grinned. "You were there when I bought it, remember?" I added grabbing some more pizza. Hayner was now eating with Axel and Olette also on the couch. He stopped, put down the pizza and gave me the most peculiar look, something both devilish and innocent. I didn't think it was possible until then.

"Well, you two sure got a head start. Already picked out furniture together." he laughed awkwardly as he got up took his box of pizza, muttered, "I think I've got an exam tomorrow…" Olette apparently caught something I didn't because she jumped up as well and muttered something similar and then Axel shrugged as he left too.

"Roxas…" Naminé whispered as she leaned towards me, "Were all alone…" I shook my head unaware of what was going on as I sipped on my soda. And then, seconds later, soda was sprayed across the room as I did a spit take, jumping up and having a spaz attack.

"Jesus… Don't do that when I'm zoning out!" I muttered before falling onto the couch sighing. "Naminé, why have you been avoiding me…?" I asked looking at her. This was the perfect time to figure out the big issue. "This past year it's been like I didn't even exist to you and now… I don't get it…" I muttered.

"Oh… Roxas, the night that you jumped, I was hoping to tell you something. I was kind of traumatized by the event and well I didn't know what to do, but I saw you staring at me earlier and realized that I've been kind of unfair…" she mumbled as she tucked a few strands of her gorgeous blond hair behind her ear. Her sky blue eyes were looking down, away from me. I didn't like that.

"Naminé, I told you I wasn't jumping, I was startled… The reason I invited you up to the top of the clock tower was to tell you… Tell you that I… I really liked you Naminé. I wasn't happy just being friends and I wanted to tell you… I was actually thinking about what I was going to say when you opened the door and I kind of freaked out." I responded leaning across the end-table to wipe a tear from her eye. "You startled me and I fell, and then you saved me…" I smiled weakly.

"What about the scars…" she muttered grabbing my wrist. I sighed and looked at her apologetically. "Those were real huh… It wasn't a skateboarding incident…" she said for me. I nodded confirming it. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you before… Do… Do you still feel that way?" she whispered as she started crying.

"I'm getting over it, I don't talk to therapists anymore…" then noticing her confused and somewhat hurt expression, I chuckled, "Oh… You meant… Well, let's just say it kind of hurt to have you ignore me so long. I didn't even say anything, and I ruined our friendship. I can't say I'm sure…" I wasn't sure until then; it had been eating me inside when she wouldn't talk to me, and I didn't know what I felt anymore. I moved to sit next to her on my chair and held her.

"I'm so sorry Roxas… I just… Just… I didn't…" she cried into my shoulder. I rubbed her back and stroked her hair until she calmed down, with tears of my own trailing down my cheeks. I noticed the evenness of her breathing and relaxing of her shoulders. She was asleep.

"I'm the one that should be sorry Naminé… For being stupid enough to believe you would have ever turned me down… If I had faith in you back then, this never would have happened…" I muttered as I picked her up and laid her down on my bed. I was about to leave when she grabbed my wrist and pulled me down to her. I chuckled when I found that she was still asleep, but she wouldn't let go, I had to stay.

I couldn't help but wrap my arms protectively around the sleeping angel next to me, and that's how I fell asleep. But when I woke up I wasn't just holding her I was underneath her. "Wha… Naminé? Where'd your dress go?" I asked groggily as she woke up too. Olette giggled from the door and held up a laundry basked before she slammed the door shut again.

Naminé's face was crimson as she wrapped herself in my blanket. "Roxas, could I maybe borrow some clothes? Just until my dress is clean…" she blushed. I rubbed my eyes and walked to my dresser grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a simple white tee. "Thanks." she muttered as I handed her the clothes. Then I headed out to my bathroom.

When I walked back in Naminé was dressed in my clothes, which were pretty damn baggy on her. "You know that's a good look for you, you should sleep with me more often…" I joked and she through a pillow at my face laughing with me. "Hey, you're the one who wouldn't let me leave." I stated truthfully.

"Whatever, I'm starving, is there any pizza left?" she said as she walked out of my room and into the kitchen. I watched her leave before turning the light off and following her out. "Um, Axel, right? How many pancakes do you think everyone is going to eat?" she asked the redhead as he finished another tall stack of pancakes. I counted out about fifty.

"Um… I don't know, like ten?" he mumbled as he turned off the stove. "So, how was your night?" he grinned suggestively at us. I face-palmed and then glared at him through my fingers. "Well, he's not talking so I'll go with breathtaking." Axel chuckled.

"Oh, it was wonderful, Roxas really knows his stuff, and oh my god, his pe…" Naminé started, I couldn't help but smirk under my hand, still covering my face. She couldn't finish because Axel plugged his ears and ran in circles doing that whole 'lalala' thing, but she did get to the point where she was holding her hands a foot a part. I grinned at Axel when his jaw dropped at that. "Nothing happened, I just fell asleep when we were talking and then, apparently, while sleeping, I made him stay in his room with me." she stated with a tone that told me she didn't entirely believe it herself.

Hayner walked in and took a plate of ten pancakes, a bottle of syrup, a fork, and a knife. Then he sat down and started eating. Olette walked in as well and grabbed another plate, fork and knife. "You actually eat that many pancakes?" I asked. The situation never came up before, neither of them could cook, and I didn't want to. They nodded in unison. "Where do you put it?" I asked dumbfounded.

"I don't know, maybe where Naminé put that thing in your pants last ni- Ow! Okay, okay, I'll stop!" Axel said as I chased him down with my struggle bat, I had to replace it a lot. "Yeah, probably not a good idea to make fun of people in a house with two of the top athletes." he muttered as he sat down with his plate. Naminé had already gotten her plate and was eating, completely unfazed by Axel's comments. That's one of the reasons I liked her, she wasn't worried about what everyone else thought.

After breakfast I took Naminé shopping for a dress that she could wear at the dance that was later that night in my ocean blue new Dodge Challenger. Then I dropped her off at her dorm and returned to find my dorm in a state of chaos. "What's wrong Hayner?" I asked casually.

He looked at me nearly in tears, "Our drummer, he's been expelled." I dropped onto my chair and sighed. "Where are we going to find another… AXEL! Front and center!" Hayner yelled and Axel sprinted down the hall and slid into place.

"Yes, Hayner, Sir!" Axel saluted. It was absolutely hilarious to see. I noticed Axel had a pair of drumsticks in his back pocket and jumped up to stand next to Hayner.

"Do you know how to play I Don't Care, and Thnks Fr Th Mmrs by Fall Out Boy?" Hayner asked, Axel nodded and then gave a look that basically meant he wanted to know why we wanted to know. "You're in the band, we just lost our drummer, the night of the performance." Hayner responded.

"Before you are dismissed," I continued with the whole military thing, "Do you know how to play The Reason, by Hoobastank?" The question was directed at Axel alone, I had played the song with the others so I already knew they could. He nodded and I replied with a quick, "Get ready, rehearsal in an hour at the dance hall." Then I headed to my room to get ready.

I changed into a pair of black shorts with grey button on pant legs, my custom Converse which were black and grey with red straps and had two different inscriptions, _The Key of Destiny_ and _Roxas XIII_, and were a gift from my step-father. I was wearing my black turtleneck zip up vest under my short sleeved white coat that had a checkerboard pattern across the chest and shoulder seams. The coat was lined with a special red lining that was incredibly soft but also regulated a comfortable temperature. The outfit was expensive and was based on my father's old outfit. To complete the outfit I pulled on my old checkered wristband, I hadn't worn it since the incident so no one wrongly suspected that I was cutting again, and two rings, one black one white.

That being done I grabbed my guitar and helped Hayner and Olette load their instruments into my car as well. The drums were already there and Pence probably already had his board there too. Hayner was wearing long camo shorts and matching shoes, he had a black shirt and a military vest as well, and around his neck were a pair of dog tags. Olette was wearing a pair of tan khaki's and an orange tank top that had white flowers on it. She had that whole innocence thing going with her signature outfit, and it only became badass when people saw her play the bass.

Axel walked out wearing long tan shorts, a white tank top under an open fire orange long button up sleeveless shirt, and a yellow Radiant Garden Bandana, one of the bandanas that had actually belonged to the old band, around his neck. "Sup guys. Whoa nice." he commented on my outfit and I nodded in acknowledgement. "Ready to go?" he asked and I nodded as we climbed into my Challenger, I put the top down. "Hey what's the band name?" Axel asked.

"…Uh… We never had a name…" I muttered as I tapped on the steering wheel and started the car. I drove toward the dance hall and so began a long conversation that lasted throughout the entire drive and practice. Like I had thought, Pence had already set up his sound board. He was wearing a headband that made his black hair stick up straight. He also wore blue-jeans and a white baggy shirt under a Dogstreet jersey and a Radiant Garden Bandana around his neck. "Is that the best you have?" I asked him.

"Wait, what about the Twilight Thorns?" Hayner shouted after we finished practice. I nodded slowly then patted him on the back. Axel liked it and Pence agreed. Olette of course loved it, because it was her man's idea. "The Twilight Thorns it is!" he exclaimed. The name was a reference to our school, and the fact that we were thorns in the sides of the authorities, plus it sounded cool.

Just as we finished the doors were opened and students began to flood in. Naminé looked over towards the stage and practically ran over. "Well, hello there." I chuckled as she tripped and knocked us both down. "I really do like that dress." I commented as she dusted herself off and helped me up.

"Yeah, as in he'd like to tear it off…" Hayner muttered as he ran off to get himself some water. Olette and the others followed not far behind him leaving Naminé and myself alone in our little corner.

"I got you something, because you got me this dress and I felt ba… We match…" she noted as she looked at my clothes. She grinned and pulled out a small black velvet box. "Normally guys don't wear jewelry but this seemed like it would look perfect on you…" she mumbled opening it revealing a silver four pointed medallion. She hooked it to my zipper. "Looks like I was right…" she sighed stepping back and pulling out a mirror from her bag.

"Wow… It's perfect… And I have to admit I make it look _good_." I smirked. I picked her up in hug and spun her making her squeal in surprise.

She couldn't stop giggling as she ran to talk to her friends after a quick, "Talk to you after you sing!" And then she was swallowed by the crowd and a bottle of water was shoved in my face by Hayner.

"Let's do this." I said as we climbed up onto stage and took our positions. I grabbed my guitar pulled the strap over my shoulder and let it hang at my side, and then I took the mike. "How are we doin' Twilight Academy?" I yelled over the mike. I got a few murmurs of 'fine' so I shook my head. "I can't hear you, what was that, lime?" I responded a little louder. This time the crowd responded together with 'fine.' "Come on, you've been stuck in school for the past few days and that's the best you got! It's the weekend for crying out loud!" I said and they finally gave me what I was asking for.

"Well, there we go. Tonight we'll be playing three songs before handing it over to Demyx. I'd like to introduce our new drummer, Axel, and to inform everyone about our name, that we finally decided on." I said. That got a few laughs. "We are the Twilight Thorns, and first up is a song called…" I started but Hayner cut me off as practiced.

"I don't care. I mean, it's just music, why should I care about what it's called as long as I know how to play it." he muttered over the mike. The rest of us all gave him odd looks getting a response that didn't sound rehearsed at all. "What!?" he shouted.

"Well, um… That's the song, I Don't Care…" I added and the crowd cheered. "I take it we've got some Fall Out Boy fans here, am I right?" I added, and was responded to with a roar of 'yeah.' "Then let's get started!" I shouted.

Axel started off with the drums and Hayner and Olette followed in with the guitar and bass, with Pence monitoring the sound board. I kept the audience entertained throughout the song but I wasn't really in the first songs but when we got to the last song I was going all in. "This last song is for someone very close to my heart, Naminé Crest. It's one of my favorites by Hoobastank, that's right it's The Reason." I finished with a chuckle as the crowd parted leaving a wide eyed Naminé in the middle of the dance floor alone.

I nodded to Pence who started with the keyboard and then Axel on the drums and Hayner following with his guitar, shortly followed by Olette with the bass. I set my guitar down on the stand a bit before I started singing.

My voice came out sad but with love throughout the entire song, and the entire hall was eerily quiet as we finished the song. Then when it was all over and Naminé had jumped into my arms the crowd roared and whistled in approval. "That was the most amazing thing I've ever heard…" she cried with joy. "I love you Roxas!" she exclaimed, her face was red but happy.

"You… What… I… Oh… My… God… I love you too!" I shouted as we both tripped off stage and into the hands of the crowd who gently let us down and started chanting out 'kiss' over and over again, so we did, for a very long time. That would be my first kiss and sadly it would be one of my last…

**theBrickWall: HOLY LONG FIRST CHAPTER FOR ANYTHING I WRITE! Again plunges into things but backstory comes later on. Some of you might have noticed the lack of last names. Any guesses as to why? Review, let me know what I screwed up on, typos, grammar, anything really. **

**Until Next Time, **

**Thanks For Reading!**


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